US to recognise a future Afghan govt only if it upholds basic rights: Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
The United States will only recognise a future government in Afghanistan if it upholds basic rights of its people and keeps terrorists out of the country, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday.
On being asked to comment over media reports that China was ready to recognise the Taliban as a legitimate government, the top US diplomat said, “A government that doesn’t uphold the basic rights of its people, including women and girls; that harbours terrorist groups that have designs on the United States or allies and partners — certainly, that’s not going to happen.”
He appearing on US television channels on Sunday to comment over the developments in Afghanistan. The secretary of state warned that international assistance to a Taliban-led government in Kabul “will not be forthcoming, sanctions will not be lifted and their ability to travel won’t happen.”
When the interviewer implied that his statement sounds like a no to recognition, the diplomat said, “It’s incumbent on the international community, including the United States, to do everything we can using every tool that we have — economic, diplomatic, political — to ensure (those) rights are sustained.”
Blinken was also reminded by theinterviewerthat in a recent statement, US President Joe Biden insisted that the Kabul government would not fall, and asked him how he could “get this so wrong.”